Getting a good night’s sleep is universally known to be important, but actually following this rule is not as recognized, leading to an abundance of terrible effects. Staying up late has been seriously over-romanticized for far too long. Rather than be subject to inadequate rest, which leads to drowsiness and a lack of focus, we should do our best to treat our bodies right.
A lot of people turn to coffee to solve this lack of attention and awareness, as evident by Starbucks’ and Port City Java’s popularity around campus. This can help, but relying on a cup of coffee every morning isn’t always a healthy idea. Caffeine can mean dehydration and spikes in blood pressure. Also, a risk of insomnia means caffeine can get you stuck in a hazardous feedback loop.
Coffee has health downsides, but that’s not all. I remember my second semester at NC State, I had a grueling 8:30 a.m. Calculus III lecture every day. I’ve never exactly been a morning person, but the fact that I regularly got under six hours of sleep a night didn’t help at all. To solve this, I turned to a daily cup of coffee from Port City Java. I paid an adequate amount of attention as a result, but this meant I was spending at least $10 on coffee every week, which quickly added up.
Sleep is so crucial to proper cognitive function that a serious lack of it has effects comparable to being intoxicated. Someone who hasn’t slept for 17 to 19 hours functions no better than someone with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.05 percent, and it only gets worse from there, meaning things like driving can be very dangerous.
College students are far from strangers to the idea of an all-nighter. Personally, I have successfully completed one in my whole life, and I know plenty of friends that have pulled a couple to get something important done. However, while they can be a powerful tool of productivity, staying up all night isn’t healthy. A recent study described in detail how blood composition can drastically change after staying up all night which can ultimately increase risks of diabetes, weight gain and cancer.
The day after pulling an all-nighter, going to classes can feel like a nightmare. As mentioned, it can be comparable to going while drunk, which isn’t helpful if you’re looking to pay attention and learn. It’s counterintuitive to get work done late at the cost of later missing out on details from a lecture.
This is not entirely an issue of sleep alone. Society’s status quo currently is one of nonstop work at any cost, which is the exact opposite of a healthy work-relaxation balance. This is especially evident with software programmers, who frequently feel the need to work much more than is required, leading to insane levels of stress. We have become so work-focused that assignments become more important than rest. This has to stop.
Some of this balance is out of our hands. Students who have jobs or other time-consuming commitments don’t always have the time for enough relaxation, which is evidence of a systemic problem. The rest, though, is on us. This can mean cutting back on leisure activities, unnecessary responsibilities or getting more sleep.
Life isn’t always cut and dried. Sometimes we forget to do a really important assignment or go to an amazing concert or party. I can’t blame anyone for wanting to stay up doing something really fun or important, but the issue lies when this is done consistently. At that point, it’s just a matter of being reckless with your well-being.
